Sunday, 11 April 2010

"Any mother who is trying to cope with the demands of small children, run a house, enjoy her husband, and carry on even a modest social life knows that there are times when everything happens at once and the world seems to be closing in on her. She is experiencing the same information overload that afflicts business-managers, administrators, physicians, attorneys, and air controllers."

Edward T. Hall, Beyond Culture, p. 74

(Chapter 6. Context and Meaning)

Gender roles are what disturb me here. The text seems to suggest that a mother and a business-manager cannot essentially be the same person.

"I see it as a kind of fertilisation. That is the only comparison that comes to mind: a lot of spermatozoa make for the ovule and one of them succeeds in piercing the membrane. All the other "suitors" are then rejected; henceforth there is just one "father", and it is him that the child will resemble... (metaphore continues on the next page:) But let us leave aside for the moment the word dominance and say instead that mankind was ripe for the emergence of a worldwide civilisation. The egg was ready to be fertilized, and western Europe performed the deed."

Amin Maalouf, In the Name of Identity, Penguin Books, p.70.

(Translated from the French by Barbara Bray)

Dear Maalouf, wasn't it the same you who said this "A life spent writing has taught me to be wary of words." (p.9) and this: "But I think it is important for each of us to become aware that our words are not innocent and without consequence: they may help to perpetuate prejudices which history has shown to be perverse and deadly." (p.22)